HAMILTON — With sophomore Griffin Hutton away at a club meet, the Hamilton boysswim team knew it was in trouble.

The senior leaders on Nottingham each had a little different take on the situation, which eventually led to a 107-63 Northstars victory at the Lea Terry Natatorium Thursday.

“I was surprised Griffin wasn’t here,” said Jeremy Oiler, a four-time winner for the Northstars. “He’s the best swimmer on their team. The fact he isn’t here is not necessarily fair.

“He would have beaten me in the fly and if he was in the 400 he definitely would have won that so they would have gotten one-two there.”

Michael John, who won three times, had a slightly different take.

“It is good to face a team when they’re at their best,” John said. “But it’s also kind of good that he wasn’t here. I have to be honest.”

So John will take a win over facing a team at full strength?

“Yeah,” he said with a laugh. “Sure.”

Then again, Oiler wasn’t complaining.

“I’ll take the win, that’s for sure,” he said.

Nottingham opened its season against state power Princeton, so the Northstars were looking forward to taking on a team closer to its competition level. John was particularly excited to go against West, noting teams he competed on in track, cross country and swimming have never lost to the Hornets.

It wouldn’t happen this time either, as Nottingham won all but three events as Austin Jenkins took the 50 free for West and Matt Maul won the 200 free. Jake Torres did a nice job stepping up in Hutton’s absence by winning big in the 400.

But Nottingham had too much. Oiler won the 100 fly and 100 back and also swam on the 200 medley relay and 400 free relay. John took first in the 100 free and 100 breast while swimming the 400 free.

Tom Padulchick had a strong day, swimming in the 200 medley relay and 400 free relay while taking seconds in the 200 free and 100 back. Joe Oliver won the 200 IM and had two second-place finishes.

“I think we can compete well with some teams this year and just improve,” John said. “We have a young team, a lot of new guys, a lot of freshmen. We just want everybody to get better, that’s what counts.”

As for the Hornets, they are anxious to get their stud back. They also were missing Aleks Henson, who had a death in the family.

“We did our best, the guys swam great,” coach Dan Seeth said. “We actually swam a very competitive meet being down two starters. A lot of guys stepped up, we had holes, I said to the team ‘We gotta fill these lanes, figure it out,’ And a lot of guys stepped up.”